Machine-inclosing cabinet



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. R. MGLAREN, J-r, 8v E. H. BOYCE. MACHINE INGLOSING CABINET.

Patented Se Fig].

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. R.M0LAREN,J1: & E. H. BOYCE.

MACHINE INGLOSING CABINET.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3. r

J. R. MGLAREN, Jr. & E. H. BOYCE. MACHINE INOLOSING CABINET.

No. 589376. Patented Sept. 14,1897.

Fig.5. j

Nrrnn I JOHN R. MCLAREN, JR, AND EUGENE II. BOYCE, OF BURLINGTON,

VERMONT.

MACHINE-INCLOSING CABINET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 589,976, datedSeptember 14, 1897.

Application filed July 13,1896: Serial No. 598,972. (No model.)

To all whom) it may concern-.-

Be it known that we, JOHN R. MCLAREN, Jr., and EUGENE H. BOYCE, ofBurlington, in the county of Ohittenden and State of Vermont, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Machine-InclosingCabinets; and we do hereby declare that the following specificationtaken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part ofthe same, is a clear, true, and complete description of our invention.Our said improvements relate to that general class of cabinets upon orin which type writers and sewing-machines are mounted and which inclosethe machines when not in use, and to that special class of cabinetswherein the act of opening and closing a hinged top or cover causesthemachine to be lifted into position for use and lowered therefrom. i

In one type of cabinet as heretofore organized the vertically-movableplatform on which the machine is mounted is coupled to crossed andpivoted togglearms, which operate only as guides for the platform bymaintaining it in a horizontal position during its vertical movements.do not operate as toggle-levers because the lifting, supporting, andlowering of the plat form is performed by a pair of lifting-levershinged or fulcrumed at the hinge-line of the cover and extending beneaththe platform,

with which they engage in rolling contact by way of rollers carried ontheir free ends. These prior lifting-levers are actuated by the top orcover, which during a portion of its movement so engages with bothlifting-levers near the hinge-line as to serve as a free arm for both ofsaid levers, the cover operating as an extension thereof.

In our novel organization we employ vertical crossed toggle-levers,which instead of being mere guides like the toggle-arms heretofore usedare a part of the lifting and lowering niechanism,t hey being pivotallycoupled to a controlling-lever which at one end has a movable orshifting fulcrum and at the other end is coupled by a link to the top orcover I of the cabinet, and when the platform with the machine thereonhas been raised the entire weight is borne by the controlling-lever,

Said prior toggle-arms ter is subjected to no strains other than thoserequired for shifting the position of the controlling-lever, which iseasily effected because its long arm is coupled to the cover, and theshifting fulcrum at its short arm assures an easy lifting movement.

With our toggle-levers serving as a partof the lifting mechanism weemploy suitable means for maintaining the platform in a horizontalposition, a desirable means being such crossed toggle-arms as performthe same function in the prior cabinets referred to.

In prior cabinets the front side or wall of the machine -inclosingchamber has been hinged and so organized that it would swing inwardlyand upwardly when the machine and platform were elevated for aifordin gkneespace to the operator. In said prior cabinets the hinged side isactuated by a curved bar pendent from a depressible portion of the topof the cabinet, which is hinged to and underlies the hinged cover whenin its opened and horizontal position, so that the weight of the coverforces the curved bar downward and inward against the outer surface ofthe hinged side or wall below its hinge-line and imparts to the side orwall a similar inward and upward swinging movement. v

In our cabinet the hinged front wall is directly actuated and controlledby the movable platform, which carries a suitable contact-plate or aroller at its front edge for engagement with an inwardly-projecting studon the hinged side or wall above its hingeline, so that said front sideor wall is swung inwardly and upwardly as the platform rises,

and when the latter descends it permits the side or wall to drop intoits pendent position.

After describing ,our invention in connection with the drawings thefeatures deemed novel will be duly specified in the several clausesof'claim hereunto annexed.

Referring to the drawings, Figures 1 and 2,respectively,illustrateclosed and open cabinets embodying our invention. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal sectional view of the main portions of the cabinet with themachine-platform in its fully-elevated position as for service and withsaid platform, its levers, and the cover of the cabinet in dotted linesfor indicating their several relative positions, as during the liftingof the cover. Fig. 4, in a similar section, illustrates the platform inits lowest posit-ion and the cabinet-cover closed. Fig. 5 is a lateralsection showing the platform in its elevated position, and the frontwall or side of the inclosing chamber swung inwardly and upwardly, andit also illustrates the toggle-arms, which being below each end of theplatform serve as its guides. Fig. 6 is a similar section showing theplatform in its lowest position and the front hinged wall in its pendentor inclosing position. Fig. 7 is a detail view of the means forcontrolling the hinged front side of the inclosing chamber. Fig. 8illustrates a modification of the arrangement of the lever which iscoupled to and controls the toggle-levers. Fig. 9 illustrates thetoggle-levers provided with lateral arms to serve as movable bracketsfor better supporting the platform and contributing to maintaining theplatform in a horizontal position.

In the several figures the cabinet A has a top or cover a, hinged at a,and which when opened serves as an extension-top, as heretofore. WVhensaid cover is closed, a machinechamber is afforded at B, the cover beingthe top, the rear and end walls being adjacent portions of the cabinet,and the front side or wall b being a pendent panel hinged at b to anoverlying front portion of the cabinet, the bottom of said chamber beingthe movable platform C, as is clearly indicatedin Fig. 4.

Below the movable platform 0 and near its rear edge there is a pair ofvertical crossed toggle-levers D D, which constitute portions of theplatform-lifting mechanism, and below each end of the platform there isa pair of vertical crossed toggle-arms E and E, which serve as guidesfor maintaining the platform in a horizontal position during itsvertical movements. 'lhetoggle-armsandthetogglelevers are similar intheir form and pivotal arrangement, one arm of each pair being pivotallycoupled to the under side of the platform, the toggle-lever D beingcoupled at lug o and the toggle-arms having similar lugs. The othertoggle-lever and one arm of each pair are in like manner coupled tounderlying stationary lugs, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 at c in connectionwith the toggle-lever D, and at c in connection with one of thetogglearms E in Fig. 5. The opposite or free ends of these severallevers and arms are each preferably provided with rollers, if heavymachines are to be lifted, so as to operate with a smooth travelingcontact, but for ordinary service smooth and well-roundedcontact-surfaces can' be relied upon.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the toggle-lever D has a long channeledguide-lug c on the under side of the platform 0, and the lever The powerfor lifting the platform 0 is applied to the toggle-levers D D from thehinged top or cover a by means of a controlling-lever F and a link cl,which connects the long end of said lever to the hinged top. Thecontrolling-lever F is mounted upon the stud or pin e, which hinges thetwo toggle-levers together, and as this hinge-point moves laterallyduring the lifting and lowering movein ents the f ulcru m-bearing of thecontrollinglever must permit said lever to follow the movements of thepin, and therefore the controlling-lever has a movable or shiftingfulcrum.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the controllinglever is fulcrumed on a studf, carried by a link G, pendent from a fixed stud f at its upper end,the adjacent portion of the cabinet being recessed for the freereception of said link.

The lifting of the cover a from its closed position, Fig. 4, causes thetoggle-levers to open, as shown in Fig. 3, the link Gswinging slightlyto and fro, as indicated in dotted lines, and permitting thecontrolling-lever to assume its various positions, but when the platformhas been fully lifted the link is substantially vertical and the shortarm of the controlling-lever is parallel therewith, so that thetoggle-pin c, the fulcrum-studf, and fixed stud f are all substantiallyin line, thus looking the toggle-levers in their opened position, theplatform being then firmly supported by the pendent link G, which inpart is supplemented by the toggle-armsE E, which while they maintainthe platform in ahorizontal position perform no lifting or sustainingduty independently of the toggle-levers and the controlling-lever.

During the upward movement of the platform C a roller g, attachedthereto beneath its front edge and below an open slot, (shown in detailin Fig. 7,) engages with an inwardlyprojectiug finger h, attached to thehinged front side or panel Z) above its hinge-line and swings said panelinwardly and upwardly, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, to afford knee-spacefor the operator.

The inner lower side of the hinged panel is beveled, as at W, so thatthe roller g, when the platform is lowered as shown in Fig. 6, engageswith the beveled surface and securely wedges the panel into its properposition. The roller g operates smoothly as a contactpiece for engagingwith the finger 7L, although a suitably-rounded plate would serve asimilar purpose.

stance, as illustrated in Fig. 8.

It is to be understood that although we prefer to employ a pendent linkand a controllinglever fulcrumed thereon we do not restrict the mainfeature of our invention to that arrangement for operating the toggle-levers and for rigidly supporting the elevated plat form, because ifspecially light machines are to be lifted the pendent link may bedispensed with and the controlling-lever be otherwise provided with ashifting fulcrum-as, for in- The togglelevers D and D are as beforedescribed and the controlling-lever F is pivoted to their stud or pin 6in like manner, but instead of the pendent link the fulcrum-bearin g ishere afforded by an underlying stationary ledge 2', with which a roller76 at the end of the inner arm of the controlling-lever has a travelingcontact-during the lifting and lowering movements, the opposite arm ofthe lever being connected to the hinged cover, as before described."When the platform is fully elevated, the axis of the roller 7tand thestud e occupy substantially the same vertical line, and therefore thestationary ledge i will rigidly support the platform, the inner arm ofthe lever then serving as a supporting and locking post. During themovements of the lever the ledge 11 and roller provide a shiftingfulcrum similar to that afforded by the pendent link, and botharrangements of the controlling-lever securely lock the ioggle-levers intheir fully-opened positions.

It will be obvious that when one pair of toggle-levers are employed andactuated as described some means for maintaining the platform in ahorizontal plane must be employed therewith, and these means may bevaried without substantial departure from the main features of ourinvention. In some cases it is not essential that the front side of theinclosing chamber should be hinged, and therefore two pairs of suchtoggle-levers, with their controlling-levers, could be employed, aswould be desirable for use in connection with specially heavy machines,and each pair of such toggle-levers Would cooperate with the other pairas a means for maintaining the platform in a horizontal position. i

For use with specially light machines one pair of toggle-levers,althoughlocated near one edge of the platform, may be so constructed as torender the toggle-arms E and Eunnecessary, as illustrated, for instance,in Fig. 9. As here shown, the toggle-levers D and D have lateralarms,which should extend somewhat beyond the longitudinal central lineof the platform. The lever D being pivoted to the under side of theplatform, has its arm Z provided at its end with a pivot-pin for hingingto the under side of the platform in line with the hinge-pin at the topof the lever, and the lever is provided with rollers at the top of thelever and also at the outer end of its arm Z, each lever thus affordinga broad bearing for the platform upon. both toggle-levers. For securingan ample broad pivotal bearing adjacent to the pin 6 the toggle-levershave a sleeve and hubcoupling, as shown, and for securing a smoothrolling contact at the front edge of the platform it would be providedwith rollers, as shown in dotted lines, similar to the roller g, Figs. 5and 6, which would engage in rolling contact with vertical innersurfaces of adjacent front portions of the frame of the cabinet duringthe vertical movements of the platform and assure its horizontalposition.

Having thus described our invention, We claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent 1. In a machine-inclosing cabinet, thecombination with a vertically-movable platform, and a hinged cover ortop, of crossed vertical toggle-levers beneath the platform, and acontrolling-lever coupled to the toggle-levers and to the hingedcover,substantially as described, whereby power applied in raising thecover will be communicated through the controlling-lever to thetoggle-levers for lifting the platform.

2. In a machin e-inclosing cabinet, the combination with a hinged coveror top, and a vertically-movable platform, of crossed vertical.toggle-levers beneath the platform, a 5 controlling-lever hinged nearone end to the toggle-levers and having a suitable shifting fulcrum; alink which couples the other end of said controlling-lever to the hingedtop, and means for maintaining the platform in a horizontal plane,substantially as described.

3. In a machine-inclosing cabinet, the combination substantially asdescribed, of a hinged top or cover,a vertically-movable platform,vertical crossed toggle-levers beneath :05 the platform, and acontrolling-lever Which is coupled to the toggle-levers and to thehinged top, and serves as a part of the lifting mechanism and also tolock the toggle-levers in their opened position as when the platform 1IO has been fully elevated.

4. In a machine-inclosing cabinet, the combination with avertically-movable platform and a hinged top or cover, of crossedvertical toggle-levers beneath the platform, a con- I I 5 trolling-leverhinged to the pivot-pin of the toggle-levers,a pendent link affording ashifting fulcrum for the controlling-lever, and a link which couplessaid controlling-lever to the hinged top or cover substantially asdescribed.

JOHN R. MOLAREN, JR. EUGENE H. BOYCE.

WVitnesses:

CHAS. S. H. HOLDSTOCK, JAMES E. MuLnooN.

